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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23717638">Dirigible Blossoms</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Graziana/pseuds/Graziana'>Graziana</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Other 'Verse [5]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Asexual Relationship, Asexuality, F/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 21:54:37</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,723</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23717638</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Graziana/pseuds/Graziana</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>She is turning away from the paintings and walking towards them and Kingsley can see – clear as day break – her mismatched eyes, one brown, one grey.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Luna Lovegood/Kingsley Shacklebolt</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Other 'Verse [5]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1105374</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>80</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Dirigible Blossoms</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>When Kingsley is seventeen he acquires his Other marks. He feels the calm breeze, the contentment, that heralds their arrival, but doesn’t move from his comfortable place buried under the duvet. The next day he wakes and finds precisely nothing marking his skin.</p><p>He examines every patch of himself thoroughly and on discovering no major changes, he dresses and goes to breakfast. He piles his plate high with eggs, mushrooms, spinach and cracks open the Defence Against the Dark Arts text he was perusing for a possible project.</p><p>When asked by some eager friends he simply shrugs off their excitement and carries on his way, unwilling to divulge more information even if he had any to share.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>He is informed, later in the week, that there had been some sort of bet about him, that at least half of the year had had some substantial money on.</p><p>He rolls his eyes, and listens as Deborah Maitland, a calm and intelligent Slytherin he had picked up in first year and had yet to shake from his company, explained that most of the school body was in the dark about Kingsley’s sexual orientation and there was a large group of both genders waiting eagerly to know whether it was worth attempting to make a move.</p><p>“Why they were so insistent on waiting for your Other marks to appear before taking any action is beyond me, because really? Surely, they realise that even if they suddenly <em>do </em>know which quidditch team you bat for, they also understand that it is also game-over?” She points out with the cool kind of logic that Kingsley appreciates her for. Whether he liked it or not she had really become his closest friend.</p><p>“I thought most of them were still under the impression that you and I were an item?” He asks to clarify.</p><p>“Ah, I may have put paid to that quite recently.” He looks to see her colour slightly and smiles at his friend.</p><p>He does not press the topic. He neither wishes to embarrass his friend, nor does he find that he is overly interested in hearing what he thinks is probably quite a sordid tale, with a rather public element to it, if the whispers about Deborah are to be believed, and he has known her long enough to not dismiss such rumours so readily.</p><p>He smiles at her kindly and they carry on towards Ancient Runes.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Luna is somewhat of an anomaly. She is born with her Other mark already in place, one grey eye and one dark brown.</p><p>Her mother is ecstatic at this, thrilled that her child is unique and destined to have a bond so fierce in her future that the fates deemed in necessary to bless her with a physical appearance that reflects this.</p><p>Luna is five when her father and mother explain how special she is. She nods, whilst listening attentively, and then asks whether she would be able to go down to the stream and watch the dirigible blossoms on the water. Her parents smile and watch on fondly as the little girl skips across the lawn without a care in the world.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>She arrives at Hogwarts with a bright fascination in her mismatched eyes.</p><p>Within minutes of arrival, she is asking Hagrid about the creatures pulling the carriages that she can see in the distance, even as she is helped into a boat with three uneasy looking first years. They all peer to where she is pointing, desperately trying to make out the shapes that she insists are there.</p><p>The girl next to her gives up looking first, and instead introduces herself as Ginny Weasley. Luna watches Ginny’s gaze flick between her two eyes, but neither girl says anything about Others. Instead they talk about the glittering sight of Hogwarts before them and their excitement at being sorted.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>A week into her first week at Hogwarts Madam Pomfrey finds Luna and takes her to the hospital wing. She seats the girl in the chair across from her in a small and cosy treatment room, adjacent to her office, and calmly, carefully explains about Others and Other marks.</p><p>Luna, as she had before with her parents, nods thoughtfully, listening attentively. Once the explanation has concluded, Luna asks whether she would be able go because she was missing transfiguration, which was currently her favourite subject, though History of Magic was quickly rising on her list of favourite subjects.</p><p>Madam Pomfrey looks at the girl strangely at first, and then fondly. She gives Luna a bottle of viscous ointment and tells her that it is often considered socially unacceptable to go about with Other marks on show before you come of age, before sending her away.</p><p>Luna takes the bottle and stores it at the bottom of her bag. Later she would remove it from her bag and place it in the bottom drawer of her bedside table, with absolutely no intention to use the tincture.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>When, two weeks following her encounter with Madam Pomfrey, Luna is forcibly ejected from History of Magic by Professor Binns for <em>flouting the rules of conventional, polite society</em>, and <em>quite what did she think was acceptable behaviour for a young witch, </em>Luna returns to her dormitory and unearths the bottle she had been given.</p><p>The following Thursday, she looks at History of Magic on her timetable, sighs, and tips her head back, hand with pipette hovering steadily above her.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Kingsley acquires cuts, bruises and scrapes during his Auror training, but not all of them are his own. Sometimes little marks start to appear on his skin, shimmering mirages of scars, the odd freckle.</p><p>He examines them, mentally takes a note, dresses, and then begins his day.</p><p>Halfway through his second year of training he starts to notice that there may be a similar betting pool forming amongst his colleagues, to that which had followed him through his career at Hogwarts.</p><p>It bothers him very little. He smiles when he heard whispers of it, and at one point briefly considers working out a way to make some money from the set up. He even writes to Deborah for her thoughts on attempting to profit from the situation.</p><p>Her reply is dry but makes him smile.</p><p>
  <em>Kingsley, </em>
</p><p>
  <em>For Merlin’s sake, do not sink to their level. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Or you could flirt with all of them and confuse the issue further. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>D xx</em>
</p><p>The note does not really help, he was hoping for an alternative to flirting – which was ever Deborah’s solution.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>He knows precious little about his colleague’s personal lives, and has no real wish to change that, but as the months draw on, he decides that perhaps there are other ways to mess with their game.</p><p>When a well-meaning colleague jokingly asks whether he has any wild plans for his Friday night. He smiles tightly at them and informs them that he a quiet night in planned, just him and Sam, dinner, he might open a bottle of wine.</p><p>Their face lights up briefly, and then falls slightly at the realisation that the name Sam provides little indication of his preferences.</p><p>He chuckles to himself once he has turned away. He chooses not to tell them that Sam is the name of the Jack Russell Terrier that he had adopted 2 months ago.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Kingsley joins the second Order of the Phoenix. It is as simple as that.</p><p>He has more to give than what he can achieve at the Ministry alone, though he pours his mind, body, and soul into his job.</p><p>He talks to Moody, and then he talks to Dumbledore, and then one day he is sat with the rest of the Order around a kitchen table in secret-kept Grimmauld Place.</p><p>He is the one to recruit Tonks. Moody is resistant at first, but he knows talent when he sees it, and it takes only a short meeting with the three of them. Once Tonks has departed, Moody grins at him, which is disconcerting, before the two of them head towards the fireplace Floo powder in hand, and Dumbledore’s office in mind.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>When they first meet, Kingsley, along with some other Aurors, are striding swiftly down through Hogwarts towards the headmaster’s office. It is bright and early on a Saturday morning, so very few students roam the halls and staircases. They come across the girl intently questioning a portrait of Lady Guinevere, whilst Lady Ophelia pokes her head in from another frame. The two women are bickering some, the girl, it would seem, was attempting to mediate.</p><p>She is turning away from the paintings and walking towards them and Kingsley can see – clear as day break – her mismatched eyes, one brown, one grey. He slows his stride.</p><p>“Excuse me, would you be able to point us in the direction of Professor Dumbledore’s office?” He finds himself asking, even though he knows very well where he is going. <em>It adds to his cover,</em> he reasons internally.</p><p>Her dreamy smile does not quite reach her eyes, which are sharp, inquisitive, and <em>one of them is the same colour as his eyes. </em></p><p>“Certainly. It’s on my way, so you can come with me.” She answers, voice light.</p><p>She sharply turns to start walking up the stairs, in the opposite direction to her previous course of travel. Nobody points out that it is clearly not on her way. Instead they follow her as she starts the ascent up the shifting steps.</p><p>Not much else is said, except for a brief warning about a sinking step on one of the other sets of stairs.</p><p>Once they arrive at the vast gargoyle guarding the entrance Kingsley nods his thanks, and extends his hand for a muggle handshake, unthinkingly.</p><p>“Thank you, Miss?” The question dangles between them.</p><p>“Lovegood. Luna Lovegood.”</p><p>“Thank you, Miss Lovegood.” He does not say anything as trifling as <em>you saved us from wandering around lost for hours</em>.</p><p>Dawlish is already at the great stone creature, already stepping up stairs that spiral from the ground in great groaning twirls.</p><p>“Come on, Shacklebolt.” He calls, then he is gone from sight.</p><p>“Very nice to meet you, Miss Lovegood.” He says, rather lamely, stepping onto the still moving stairs as he does so.</p><p>“Likewise, Mr. Shacklebolt.” She answers quickly, before he is gone. He smiles but she cannot see it.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>The second time they meet Luna Lovegood has just excused herself from the bedside of Hermione Granger. They are both in the Hospital wing of Hogwarts, Kingsley is there to provide a thorough account of the night’s events as the Ministry and the press will report. Luna gravitates towards the group standing in a loose clump in order to offer any assistance that she can with healing minor maladies and injuries obtained.</p><p>She has cuts and grazes up her bare arms that are yet to be healed; he notes even as she offers her own healing services. He does not doubt that if he were to roll up his on sleeves silver echoes of those marks would litter his own arms.</p><p>She smiles at him warmly and he smiles back. She extends the same smile to everyone else, and then comments of the danger of Bowtruckles’ attraction to open wounds.</p><p>Kingsley has no idea what a Bowtruckle is, but once the group is dispersed, he approaches Luna Lovegood.</p><p>“Miss Lovegood, would you be able to help?” He asks. He opens his right palm to reveal a nasty series of cuts there. “I was able to do the other hand, but as I am right-handed, this side proved tricky.”</p><p>“Of course, Mr Shacklebolt. Anything I can do to help.” She adds and he sits leans on the end of an unoccupied bed.</p><p>She heals his cuts competently and quickly, and once finished she holds his palm open for a moment longer.</p><p>“I got this one” she says pointing at the vast silver echo-of-a-scar that cuts across from the base of his index finger to the base of his pinky finger, “when I was helping mum with a potion she was designing. It was meant to be for identifying the age of plants using just a cutting, or even just some of the soil.”</p><p>He, like she had, breezes over the casual confirmation that they bear each other’s Other marks and asks.</p><p>“What possible use did that potion have?”</p><p>“Well, she was never successful with that one, but her plan was to use it for Potion making. Many plants can only be used once they are at full maturity, or some when they have flowered only three times for example. This was going to be a quick way to identify the readiness of an ingredient without destroying the entire plant or the root, as many potioneers find themselves doing to get an accurate plant history.”</p><p>He listens and nods and stretches his hand a few times to feel how the skin and muscle had knitted back together. He looks down at the new scar, and the old one that she had so easily identified as hers.</p><p>“Thank you, Miss Lovegood.” He could say something cliché like <em>you’ve saved me again, </em>but he doesn’t.</p><p>“Please, call me Luna.” She asks, and then she is gone. Turned away and walking back through the hospital wing.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>The third time they meet, neither of them are in the best shape. Luna Lovegood looks and feels very much like she has just spent the past three months locked in the basement of the Malfoy’s and the last 20 hours helping Hogwarts and the side of the light fight for their collective lives.</p><p>Kingsley looks and feels similarly, though not the basement-of-Malfoy-manor part.</p><p>She takes a seat next to him, and starts to produce balms, salves, and bandages from somewhere.</p><p>He watches her carefully, his eyes catching on the sharp lines of her cheekbones that speak of weeks and months of malnourishment.</p><p>He will have to remain impartial at the trial of Lucius Malfoy, he reminds himself, but he will most certainly be making sure that he flags that paperwork the second it lands on his desk. As much as he could help it, he was going to make sure every single party involved in the war was dealt with justly and thoroughly, administrative red-tape be damned. Full sentences would finally be served, and names would be cleared, if he had anything to say about it.  </p><p>Luna smiled at him and continued to wrap bandages around his hands – potion burns from a particularly nasty hex bubbles his skin there.</p><p>He wonders how much of his thoughts he had said out loud.</p><p>“Quite a lot of it.” Luna replies.</p><p>He lets out a short, loud, <em>bright </em>laugh.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>It is nearly a month later that things have settled enough that the acting Minister for Magic manages to arrange his schedule to squeeze in a lunch break. A full hour.</p><p>When he realises this, he sends a note to Luna, and quickly receives a response in the affirmative.</p><p>Later, still in full robes and with wands placed quite indiscreetly on the table, they pick over tomato soup and cheese and ham sandwiches at a greasy muggle café in Camden, chatting about Bowtruckles, potion innovation, and rune lore.</p><p>After lunch, they stand opposite each other and awkwardly consider how to say farewell.</p><p>“This has been lovely, Miss Lovegood.” He says. He does not say <em>we should do this again sometime. We should always get lunch and talk and laugh.</em></p><p>“Likewise, Mr. Shacklebolt- Minister Shacklebolt.” She corrects quickly with a smile. “Did you know that Muggle ministers get ‘Right Honourable’ before their name. I think that’s wonderful, very dignified.”</p><p>He smiles at her. “Please, call me Kingsley.” He corrects her.</p><p>“Right Honourable Kingsley Shacklebolt.” She says with a curve of a tease in her smile.</p><p>“We should do this again sometime.” He manages. he leaves <em>we should always get lunch and talk and laugh </em>off the end though.</p><p>“Yes, we should.” She agrees solemnly. “And we will!”</p><p>He smiles and then starts to walk away, when she starts walking in the same direction he laughs at the way that they had awkwardly dithered and tried to part ways outside the café, and how unnecessary that had been, and then he offers his arm which she gladly loops her own arm through as they walk.</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Any mistakes are my own! </p><p>Just a quick look at another relationship in the Other-verse.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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